


Fake Dates and First Kisses

by southsidewrites



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Cute, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Funny, Old Friends, Reader-Insert, Sweet Pea POV, fake dating au, reader POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-02
Updated: 2018-05-02
Packaged: 2019-05-01 10:00:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14518032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/southsidewrites/pseuds/southsidewrites
Summary: Your cousin’s getting married, and you need a date.  That’s where your best friend Sweet Pea steps in.





	Fake Dates and First Kisses

“Okay, Sweet Pea, here’s the deal,” you said, slapping a baby-blue envelope down on his coffee table. “I need a date for my cousin’s wedding, and you’re not doing anything that day.”

His eyebrows pressing together, Sweet Pea tucked his phone into his pocket and looked up at you. “Come again?”

“You heard me, skyscraper.  I need a date for my sister’s wedding, and you’re free that day.  Therefore, you’re going to my cousin’s wedding.”

His eyes narrowed, and he started shaking his head. “Why the hell would I do that?”

You groaned, flopping onto the couch face-first and tossing your legs onto his lap. “Because I’ve been telling my mom I have a boyfriend for like four months now, and the whole family’s excited to meet him.”

He nodded slowly, still giving you a skeptical look. “Y/N, you do realize you’re single, right?”

“Of course I fucking realize that,” you snapped. “That’s why I’m asking you to go to the wedding with me.”

“Your parents have met me Y/N,” he said. “You know, like, many times. Friends for like ten years, remember?”

You sat up straight, nodding happily and grabbing his hand. “Exactly, Pea! They love you already, so when I drop the bomb that  _you_  were my secret boyfriend, they’ll be thrilled.”

His mouth fell open slightly, and he started shaking his head. “This is a bad idea for so many reasons.”

“That’s my problem.  So, will you do it?”

His eyes still narrowed, he grabbed the invitation off the coffee table and started reading. “Well, you’re right that I’m not doing anything that day.”

“And the next day,” you added. “We’d need a hotel for the night since it’s in New York.”

“Hotel?”

“Mhm.  I’d even take the floor if that’s the deal-breaker.” You smiled sweetly, silently praying he’d say yes.  You couldn’t bear the thought of another family event full of endless badgering from all your relatives reminding you how single you were.

He rolled his eyes. “I’m fine crashing in the same bed as you, Y/N.” he continued reading the invitation. “I don’t think I own anything this formal.”

“I’ll hook you up.”

“That’s a lot of money.”

“Sweet Pea, I will go to absurd lengths to prove to my family that I’m not still hopelessly single at this stage in my life.”

“But you  _are_  still hopelessly single at this stage in your life.” He grinned, setting the invitation back on the table. “I’ll do it, though.”

“Really?” you asked, nearly jumping off the couch with excitement. “For real?”

“Yeah, for real.” He rolled his eyes as he ran his hand through his messy hair. “I’ll pretend to be your boyfriend and save you the humiliation of attending a family event single.”

You leaped into his arms, hugging him tightly. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.  You have no idea how much this means to me, Pea.”

Laughing, he hugged back, wrapping his strong arms around your waist in a way that was endlessly comfortable and familiar. “You owe me big time, Y/N.”

“Love you, Pea.”

“Love you too, short stuff.”

* * *

As he watched yet another YouTube tutorial on how to tie a tie, Sweet Pea wondered what the hell he had gotten himself into.  The suit Y/N had picked out for him looked damn good, he had to admit, but he felt weirdly formal, almost too grown-up.  Sure he was a twenty-three-year-old with a college degree and a decent job, but this—going to a wedding as someone’s plus-one—felt more adult than anything he’d ever done.

That was, of course, until he remembered that he was only going as part of an elaborate scheme to convince Y/N’s nosy relatives that she wasn’t single.

“Sweet Pea, isn’t Y/N going to be here any second?” Fangs shouted, banging on his bedroom door.

“Yeah, your point?” Sweet Pea shouted back, muffling a curse at the impossible tie.

“You should be ready by now!”

“Shut the fuck up, Fogarty!” Sweet Pea replied, his lips pressed into a tight line.  No matter how many times he tried, the dumbass tie wouldn’t stay tied.  Or, it would stay tied, but it would look like he tied it with a couple of long-ass spaghetti noodles instead of fingers.  He groaned loudly, resting his forehead on the mirror.  While he could have asked Fangs for help, he wanted nothing less than to admit to his failure.

Through his closed door, he could hear the front door of the apartment open and shut again. “Damn, Y/N, looking good,” Fangs said, answering the door.

“Shut up, Fogarty,” she laughed. “Where’s my boyfriend?”

Sweet Pea could practically hear Fangs rolling his eyes. “Casanova’s been getting ready for like three hours.”

There was the click of heels on the floor, and then his door pushed open. Y/N walked in, and for a moment, all Sweet Pea could do was stare.  In their time as friends, Sweet Pea had seen her in a total of maybe four dresses—one for high school graduation, another for college, some scholarship ceremony, and a funeral for someone they went to high school with.  None of those dresses had anything on this one, though.

The long dress was fitted perfectly, hugging her curves like it had been made for her.  The light-colored material was layered with delicate lace, giving the whole outfit an almost angelic look.  Her hair was pulled back effortlessly, a few loose curls falling into her face.  She had clearly put on a bit more makeup on than usual, and she was even wearing heels.  Sweet Pea was too stunned for words.

“Hey there, earth to Sweet Pea,” she joked, walking over to him. “I asked if you were ready to go yet?”

“Oh, I—um—just about.” He held up the tie with his sweetest smile. “Any chance you can help me?”

Rolling her eyes, she walked over, taking the tie with a smirk and expertly tying it. “Alright, now you look good.” She smiled softly, her eyes running over him in a way that made his stomach roll in a decidedly pleasant way. “Ready to go?”

He nodded, words still a bit tricky. “Yeah, I’m ready.”

* * *

You made Sweet Pea drive, blaming your heels when in reality, you just knew he’d rather do it.  As soon as you were in the car, you kicked the heels off, resting your feet on the dashboard.  The position caused your dress to ride up almost to your hips, but you didn’t think twice about how much leg you were showing.  It was just Sweet Pea, after all.  Sweet Pea, who was looking too good in a suit for his own damn good.  You squashed that observation, trying to remind yourself that it was  _just_ Sweet Pea.

“Thank god we’re in your car because that would get you kicked out of mine,” Sweet Pea teased, nodding towards your feet on the dash with a pointed look.

You rolled your eyes. “Shut up, dude.  I do this all the time.” You smirked. “Maybe you just have a soft spot for me.”

“Not likely, short stuff.  Don’t make me regret doing this for you.”

Laughing, you reached over to squeeze his arm. “Really, Pea, thank you.”

“Of course.” He ran his hand through his immaculately-styled hair.  “So, any chance you can remind me again how I asked you out?”

You groaned.  While you had spent a good bit of time coming up with the most believable scenario, talking about it gave you a weird, unidentifiable feeling in your stomach. You weren’t sure if it was guilt from lying, nerves that the lie might not work, or something else entirely.

“Dude, we’ve been over this.  Remember, I want to go for the realistic approach.  I mean, we’ve been friends for ten years, so it wouldn’t be some big sappy ordeal.  Just a sudden realization that we should date.” You smiled softly, playing with the lacy hem of your dress. “It happened while we were at the Wyrm, playing pool. It was you and me against Fangs and Toni.  We won—you made the winning shot, of course—and I got excited and went for a hug. Instead of hugging, though, we found ourselves kissing, and BAM!  Relationship. We’ve been together ever since—don’t live together, hang out most days, still have the same friend group, yadda, yadda, yadda.”

“Yadda, yadda, yadda?” he asked, giving you an amused look.

You smiled back at him. “Well, yeah, I didn’t plot out the whole damn story. Gotta leave some room for creativity, you know.”

He rolled his eyes, trying not to laugh. “Y/N, this cannot end well.”

“Oh, it’ll end well, alright.  That’s just a fact.  It has to,” you asserted. “If it doesn’t, not only will I spend all of Christmas being ridiculed for my relationship status, I’ll be ridiculed for bringing a fake date to Molly’s wedding.”

“Wait, so this ruse has to go until Christmas?” Sweet Pea asked, glancing away from the road to look at you with wide eyes.

“No, no, no, dear skyscraper,” you laughed. “I’ll  _dump_  you sometime before my Grandma’s birthday in July so that you don’t have to keep pretending.”

“But won’t that ruin our friendship?  Ten years is a long time to throw away over a few months dating,” he laughed.

“Nah, we’ll be fine.  More of a mutual decision that we’re better as friends.” The words made the weird feeling in your stomach return.  You shook it off, turning up the volume on the radio instead.

* * *

“You’re kidding me.” Your older sister stood with her arms crossed over her pregnant belly.  At two years older than you, she may as well have been a lifetime ahead.  Married, one kid and one on the way, a high-paying job—basically everything you didn’t have yet.

“What, Sam?” you asked, not even bothering to hide your grin as you went in for a hug. “Why the look of surprise?”

“Sweet Pea,” she stated, barely hugging you back before turning to look at him. “No fucking way this guy you’ve been talking about it Sweet Pea.”

“Hey Sam,” he greeted her with a side-hug. “You look great, by the way.”

Eyes narrowed, she looked between the two of you. “This isn’t some elaborate prank to make yourself Mom’s favorite, is it?”

“No way, bitch,” you laughed. “What, do you think I might be giving you a run for your money?”

She rolled her eyes. “Just bring him in so Mom can freak out before the wedding starts instead of mid-ceremony.  All we need is her gushing over Sweet Pea while Molly’s halfway down the aisle.”

You chuckled, grabbed his arm and held him close as the three of you started walking toward the church.  As Sweet Pea laced his fingers with yours, you felt your heart thump in your chest. It was almost too easy being this close to him.  You swallowed hard, trying to shake off the feeling—it was a favor, no more and no less.

“Think we’ve got her fooled?” Sweet Pea murmured under his breath.

“Think so,” you replied.  You were amazed at the ability to get the words out since it suddenly seemed like all you could focus on was the feeling of his hand in yours.

As soon as you walked into the church, you found yourself being pulled into a suffocating hug by your Mom.

“Y/N, Sweet Pea!” she gushed. “No way, Y/N, Sweet Pea’s the secret boyfriend?”

“Yeah Mom, you laughed awkwardly, instinctively reaching for his hand again. “Sweet Pea’s the secret boyfriend.”

“Well, this is the best news I’ve heard in a long time.” She smiled so widely you thought her face might split in half. “Sweet Pea, it is so good to have you here.”

“Great to be here, Lydia,” he replied, laying on the charm as heavily as he could. “You don’t know how long I’ve been begging your daughter to go public with this relationship.” He wrapped his arm around you, holding you so close that you could practically feel his heartbeat.  

You rolled your eyes, trying to slow your racing heart.  _Why the hell was this making you feel this way?_  “Yeah, yeah, I just had to make sure he was the right guy, you know.” You shoved him playfully, earning a warm grin.

Your mom was beaming, looking between the two of you like she wasn’t sure if she should laugh, cry, or some combination of the two.  It made you feel guilty as hell.

“Well, we should probably take our seats,” Sweet Pea said, slowly starting to guide you away from the conversation.  “It’s so good to see you again, Lydia.”

“You too, Sweet Pea.”

As we sat down for the ceremony, Sweet Pea left his arm around your shoulders, his hand resting lightly on your arm.  You were hyper-aware of his every move to the point where you had to remind yourself that you weren’t into him, that he was just your friend,  _your best friend._

* * *

_Focus on the wedding.  Focus on the wedding.  Focus on the wedding._ Focus on the wedding, you dumbass.  Sweet Pea exhaled slowly, trying to regain control over his senses.  They were less than an hour into the ruse, and he already felt like he was ready to break. For years he had been telling himself that his feelings for Y/N were innocent, that they were nothing more than platonic.  Seeing her in that dress, holding his hand, calling him  _the right guy_ , though, it made it clear that the way he felt about her was much more than platonic.

_I am so colossally fucked._

* * *

Laughing, you allowed Molly to pull you off the dance floor and to the bar where Sweet Pea was sitting with the groom, Drew, and Sam’s husband, Jacob. The three were laughing about something when you walked over and snuck under Sweet Pea’s arm, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“Hey you,” you said, feeling the start of a good buzz flowing through your veins.

“Hey you,” he replied, smiling so softly it made you want to kiss him for real. “Having fun?”

“So much.” You rested your head on his chest, listening to his heart thud in his chest and doing everything you could to steady your own racing heart.

Jacob was giving you a searching look.  Like his wife, he had known you both long enough to be suspicious of this “secret” romance. “So, Y/N,” he drawled, “what made you change your mind about this guy after knowing each other since middle school?”

“I didn’t change my mind,” you answered, grabbing your fresh drink from the bar. “I’ve always liked Sweet Pea, and I guess I just realized that maybe I wanted more than just a friendship with him.”

Jacob nodded, taking a sip of his own drink and looking entirely unconvinced. “Okay, if you say so.  And what about you, Sweet Pea, what on earth made you want to date this one?” He smirked as you rolled your eyes.

Sweet Pea smiled, and his arm tightened around your shoulders. “What can I say?  I had a crush on this girl since I was like sixteen.  Sure, it’s been kind of on and off, and I never thought I’d be able to act on it, but—” His voice softened, and he looked down at you with a smile. “But I guess the time was just right, and now she’s giving me a chance.”

“Oh my gosh, that’s so fucking cute,” Molly exclaimed, downing the rest of her who-knows-what-number vodka drink.  Then, her jaw dropped as a new song started playing. “And oh my fucking gosh, this is the cutest song ever.  You two need to dance.  Like now.” She grabbed one of your wrists and Sweet Pea’s arm and dragged you out to the floor.  Once she had you placed firmly in the middle, she smiled drunkenly. “I always knew you’d be the next wedding, Y/N.”

You and Sweet Pea’s eyes widened in shock, and you were relieved that Molly was already walking away to gush over some other couple.

“Man,” Sweet Pea observed, cautiously moving his hands to your waist. “She’s definitely not going to be having a beautiful, romantic wedding night.”

You chuckled, wrapping your arms around his neck to hold yourself close as you started dancing. “No, probably not.  Good thing her and Drew already live together.” You bit your lip, looking up into his deep brown eyes. “Sweet Pea, I—”

“It’s nothing, Y/N, really.”

“You don’t even know what I was going to say.”

“I assumed it was something about how thick I was laying it on back there.” He paused. “Sorry if that got uncomfortable.”

“No—no, it’s not that,” you answered hurriedly. “No, that was fine, I just—”

He gave you an expectant look, but all you could do was bite your lip and pray he didn’t feel the way your heart was racing.  His voice was impossibly soft, tinged with something you could only describe as nerves.  “What, Y/N?”

Before you could respond, the song ended, and you found yourself pulling back slightly. “I suppose we should head back to the hotel soon.”

His face dropped. “Yeah, I suppose so.”

Letting your arms fall off of him, you made your way back to the bar to give Molly a hug. “Congrats again, Mols,” you said, holding her tightly. “I’m so happy for you.”

“You too, beautiful,” she replied, squeezing you so tightly it almost hurt. “It’s about time you got with a decent guy.”

“Yeah.” Your voice was soft. “About time.”

You pulled back to see Jacob shaking Sweet Pea’s hand and pulling him into a hug. “We better see you at Christmas, man.  If not, we might have to disown Y/N.”

Laughing, he shook his head. “We’ll see if I can get her to stick with me that long.”

Jacob nodded, that knowing glint returning to his eyes.  Sam had rejoined him now, and she was smirking in a way that made your stomach start doing anxious backflips.

“What’s that look for?” you asked, walking over to hug him.

“Oh, nothing, just thinking about something Sam said earlier.”

“What’s that?” You gave your sister a hard look, trying to keep a straight face.

She grinned widely. “Oh, just that for some of the touchiest goddamn people we know, you guys sure seem to have an aversion to kissing—almost like you guys haven’t kissed or something.”

Your mouth dropped open slightly, and you quickly snapped it shut. “I don’t—”

Before you got the words out, Sweet Pea had his arms around you and was pulling you close.  As soon as his lips touched yours, your eyes drifted shut.  Instinctively, you wrapped your arms around his neck, clinging to him almost frantically.  He parted his lips, drawing you deeper and making your head spin.  Before you could even process what was going on, though, he was pulling away, shrugging casually.  You were too stunned for words.

Sam and Jacob were laughing for real now.

“I knew it!” Sam laughed. “I freaking knew it.”

“Knew what?” you managed, barely recognizing that Sweet Pea had wrapped his arm around your waist.

“That you guys have been faking it all night,” Jacob answered smugly, taking a sip of his drink. “That, though, that was real.”

“I—uh—but—”

Sweet Pea looked down at you with a soft smile. “So, what do you say, Y/N? They totally busted you, but you don’t need a fake boyfriend if you have a real one.”

Your mouth dropped open for real now. “But, Pea, do you—do you really feel that way?”

“I haven’t lied once tonight, Y/N.” He wrapped his other arm around you, forcing you to face him. “I fucking love you, and as so much more than a friend, and I need to know if you feel the same.”

You bit your lip, trying to keep your emotions from spilling over. “Yeah, I do, Pea.”

The bar around you erupted with cheers, and Molly nearly leaped out of her seat. “Best wedding ever!”

You laughed, relaxing into Sweet Pea’s arms. “Molly, you’re the one who just got married, you know.”

“Yeah, but we’ve known that for a while.  You guys, though, damn, we’ve been making bets for years.”

You rolled your eyes, looking back up at Sweet Pea. “I love you too, by the way.”

“Does this mean I don’t have to sleep on the floor tonight?”

“No, Pea, you do not need to sleep on the floor tonight.” Standing up on your tiptoes, you pressed a cautious kiss into his lips.  He responded eagerly, holding you tight to him and kissing back liking he had been waiting his whole life for the moment.  When you finally broke away, you were both breathless, and you couldn’t have cared less that your family was watching. “Want to head back to the hotel?”

“More than you can possibly know.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! If you enjoyed this, please check out my other Sweet Pea x Reader works.


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